Mesut Ozil, whose success or failure at Arsenal will decide whether Arsene Wenger stays on as manager after this season marked his Gunners’ debut with a performance of singular brilliance and superb vision.

Wenger had created the European stage on which Ozil demanded to perform when he maintained his record of never finishing out of the Premier League’s top four in his 17-year reign.

And last week the Arsenal boss indicated that any decision to extend his stay would depend on whether the German international midfielder justifies the club record £42million transfer fee that took him from Real Madrid on deadline day.

VIDEO Scroll down to see Wenger hail Ozil as an 'outstanding' player following his debut

Main man: Aaron Ramsey makes sure of the points with his second, and Arsernal's third goal at Sunderland

Well
the Gunners hierarchy can start drawing up the contract and readying
the pen and ink. On the evidence of this particular player judgment, the
Frenchman is not going anywhere.

Wenger
should be congratulated for recruiting a player who will adorn Premier
League pitches with his talent — an uncanny ability to see a pass and a
silky left foot to execute it.

Arsenal
could well emerge as real title aspirants when they start firing on all
cylinders which, unfortunately for them judging from Wenger’s
after-match comments, may not be for a good while yet.

Santi
Cazorla will be out for some weeks with an ankle problem picked up in
training on Friday and Giroud suffered a knee injury which leaves the
team woefully short up front.

Remarkably,
it was Cazorla’s setback that forced the Arsenal boss to press gang
Ozil into premature action when he pulled out of training the previous
day with a stomach bug. ‘He was sick on Thursday night and I decided
only today to play him,’ he said. ‘If Cazorla had been fit I would not
have taken a gamble — but I had not much choice.

‘Like the team, he had an outstanding first half and dropped physically in the second.’

Theo
Walcott should have gorged himself with a feast of first-half goals
principally provided by Ozil’s service. Kieren Westwood denied him with
two great point-blank saves in the 15th and 28th minutes and was off
target with a close-range header in the 43rd minute from Jack
Wilshere’s cross.By this time, the German had announced his arrival by
setting up Arsenal’s 11th-minute opener with skills that underlined his
polished individuality.

Big buy: Mesut Ozil made his debut for Arsenal after making a £42.5million move from Real Madrid last week

Collecting
and controlling a Kieran Gibbs cross which dropped over his shoulder
down the left with his superb touch, he laid in Giroud with a low centre
which the Frenchman buried into the right corner with equal aplomb.

The
rest of the half was a pleasurable viewing of Ozil’s midfield
master-class which, with his team-mates warming to his example, should
have put the points well out of reach by the break.

But a resurgent Sunderland came close to making the opposition pay for not making the most of their earlier dominance.

Craig
Gardner, who replaced David Vaughan at the interval, was on the field
only three minutes before he scored the equaliser from the spot, after
Laurent Koscielny had brought down Adam Johnson.

Aaron
Ramsey restored Arsenal’s advantage in the 67th minute with a superb
right-foot first-time shot from Gibbs’ cross but, three minutes later,
Paolo Di Canio was incensed when Jozy Altidore had a goal disallowed
because referee Martin Atkinson refused to play the advantage rule after
the striker was fouled by Bacary Sagna.

Altidore
went on to force the ball over the line in spite of a desperate but
unsuccessful attempt to prevent the goal by Koscielny.

MESUT OZIL WATCH: Check out how the German helped set up Arsenal's opener and the ground he covered against Sunderland - click here for more from our brilliant match zone.

In front: Mesut Ozil (No 11) played in Olivier Giroud to score Arsenal's opener against Sunderland

Here, there and everywhere: Ozil was a constant menace to the Sunderland defence on his Arsenal debut

In front: Arsenal's Olivier Giroud (right) scores to put his side ahead against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light

Strong start: German midfielder Mesut Ozil (right) set up Giroud as he made his debut for Arsenal

‘It
was a key moment and a big mistake by the referee,’ said the Sunderland
manager. ‘He had plenty of time to allow the play to go on and then he
could have brought it back for the free-kick. It would have made the
score 2-2 and anything could have happened after that.’

The
official compounded his error by booking the Arsenal skipper, but Di
Canio’s temper was hardly soothed when Ramsey collected a superb pass
from Giroud before putting the ball beyond Sunderland’s reach in the
76th minute.

‘The break came
at the right time for Sunderland. They came back strong; we dropped
physically. They came back to 1-1 but we had the mental resources to
find two goals again,’ said Wenger.

Defeat
dropped Sunderland to the foot of the table with home games to come
against Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Manchester City,
Chelsea and Tottenham.

Di
Canio, who has ordered his foreign players learn English, will need more
understanding from his 14 newcomers if the cold blast of winter from
the nearby North Sea does not sink their survival chances before
Christmas.

Level pegging: Craig Gardner levelled from the penalty spot as Sunderland fought back against Arsenal

Level pegging: Craig Gardner levelled from the penalty spot as Sunderland fought back against Arsenal

Back in front: Aaron Ramsey scores the first of his two goals as Arsenal retake the lead at Sunderland

Bad day at the office: Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio sits on the hoarding after being sent from the dugout